The invention relates to a fluid restrictor for a bearing pocket in a hydrostatic bearing of the kind referred to in the introduction of the appended claim 1.
Such hydrostatic bearings are used primarily for taking up great thrust loads in bearings adapted for slow relative movements. An example of such a bearing is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,473. The most essential object of the invention described therein is to obtain highest possible stiffness in the bearing, i.e., when the load of the bearing is changed a given amount, the slot opening or gap between the bearing surfaces is changed as little as possible.
The actual slot opening obtained in a hydrostatic bearing at a given load and a given fluid pressure can be theoretically calculated with knowledge of the other parameters of the bearing. Therefore the bearing can, in principle, be designed so that a desired opening is obtained at given working conditions. In practice, however, it is difficult to get a sufficient accuracy. It is therefore desirable to make it possible to adjust the opening in order to be adaptable to different working conditions. For this purpose it is known to provide exchangeable or adjustable restrictors in the supply line for the pressure medium, so that the fluid pressure in the bearing pockets and therewith also the opening between the bearing surfaces can be adjusted.